Page 84 of The Cosy Christmas Chocolate Shop

After clearing up the final debris from last night, taking a quick shower, and making more choc-chip shortbread as the jar was emptying out, Emma had another hectic day. Whilst Holly served at the counter, Emma was dashing about making up the orders: teas, coffees, hot chocolates (she ran out of spray cream at one point and had to make a dash to the grocer’s), and she warmed slices of Maureen’s wonderful three-layer cake served with a blob of cream as an option which was proving extremely popular. There were milkshakes to blend, brownies to cut to size for the mini bites – it was all go. In fact, there was someone in constantly from opening to close, which was just fabulous and the till had kept on dinging.

They finally turned the sign over at twenty past five.

‘Hey, what a day,’ Holly said, as she cleared the last of the cups and saucers. ‘It never got this busy even in the chip shop. It’s just brill, Em. Everyone loves the coffee shop idea.’

‘Yeah, I’m still pinching myself that it’s all really happened. Thanks so much for that lightbulb moment, Hols, and for all your help in making it a reality.’

‘No worries, Em. I still love working here, even though my feet are done in today.’

‘Mine too.’ In fact, she felt like she was pretty much aching all over. The physical and mental effort of the past few weeks was catching up on her.

She paid Holly her wages in cash and was able to give her assistant a little bonus. ‘Just to say thanks for all the help you’ve given me over the last couple of weeks too.’

‘Aw, Em. You don’t have to.’

‘No, you’ve worked hard. You deserve it. Go and get yourself a little treat. Also, Hols, I’m going to need you to do full days on a Saturday for me, right up until Christmas at least, and I know in two weeks’ time I’ve got myself booked to do a Christmas market. Thought I’d give it a try. Do you think you can manage here? I could get Bev to come in and give you a hand, knowing how busy it was today. Yes, that’d be better, wouldn’t it?’

‘Yeah, the two of us would be good, if you were away. But yes, that’s fine. The extra pay will be great for getting Christmas presents. I have no idea what to get Adam yet and I want it to be special.’

Emma smiled to herself. They were both thinking of the other. ‘You’ll have to have a think on it. There’s plenty of time yet.’

‘Yeah, I know, but thanks for the extra cash today.’ And with that Holly gave her boss a hug as she left.

She’d better think of something to make for supper for her and Max. Salmon, that would be nice; if she could find some fresh fillets in the supermarket down the road, she could pan-fry them in sweet chilli sauce – she had a jar of that in the cupboard. Okay, that was a bit of a cheat, but she didn’t have a lot of time to play with here, or a large budget, and she could serve them with some baby potatoes and vegetables. For dessert, she could make a couple of batches of brownies for tomorrow for the shop, and use two of them tonight served with some fresh raspberries – hey presto! Meal sorted. She whizzed to the supermarket – yes, they had salmon in, and raspberries, and she also picked up a bottle of white wine as a treat.

Max arrived soon after seven and they dived into each other’s arms. She had missed this so much, this physicality, when you just couldn’t wait to be near to someone.

‘Good day?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, pretty busy. I think word is getting around about the Chocolate Café already.’

‘Great.’

‘You?’

‘Yep, all good. Finally made some progress on those kitchen units, so we can crack on again with that job.’

‘That’s good.’

They chatted, they ate, they enjoyed a glass or two of the wine.

As Emma took the plates across to the sink, Max moved in behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, burying his head in her neck with a flurry of gentle kisses. She turned to kiss him back, deeply, passionately. They were both keen to get back to where they’d left off rather abruptly this morning.

Then, naked in her double bed, Max was massaging her back with long firm strokes. Boy, was that good. She’d been really achy after a full day on her feet serving in the café, and from the last week’s painting, cleaning, cooking, chocolate crafting and more.

She could feel the tension starting to ebb away, her muscles beginning to relax and respond to his touch. Mmm, he was rather good at this. This was going in such a lovely, blissed-out, sensual direction.

She came to. It was getting light. Half-past seven on her wristwatch. What the …?

Emma opened her eyes. Max was there beside her, all warm, naked, and manly.

He must have sensed her movement, opened his eyes, saw her looking, smiled. ‘Morning, beautiful.’

‘Hi, gorgeous.’ But she couldn’t remember, what had happened before she fell asleep, had they? Curiosity got the better of her. ‘Uh, last night … did we?’ She’d been so looking forward to it.

‘Nope. I was giving you a massage and you fell asleep on me.’ He gave a wry grin.

‘Oops.’ How embarrassing.